Make Me a Muslim was a documentary following four girls in the UK who had converted to Islam and their reasons for doing so. It’s presenter Shanna Bukhari (who was in the news a few years for having had received death threats following her annoucement of being involved in Ms Universe contest) posed the question “why would they give up their Western freedoms, the drinking, having fun to become Muslim?” (paraphrased).This opening line set the tone for the entire 1 hour programme.

I acknowledge some meaningful frames, quips and interactions may have been edited and/or scripted out to package it for terrestial viewing but despite that there were some telling undercurrents to the documentary that not even editing could have caused. Professing to being Muslim herself Shanna seemed to have trouble grasping why these girls had converted. One would think maybe she had issues with the discipline involved, such as prayer, fasting, not drinking as these prohibitions were quite strict and testing for most born Muslims, so for those who choose to become Muslim these things must be much harder to become accustomed to. Or of the harder struggles some of these girls may have had once they have converted.

But the focus of the programme was to do with none of that, it was to do with what is apparent and that is their clothing. This evolved even further and became a story about Shanna’s personal journey in reconnecting with her faith

The first girl – Safia, was a bubbly, excitable girl who was in the giddy first stages of conversion. Everything seemed new to her, she loved the sisters she came across at the mosque and felt like one of them. All over Twittersphere and Facebook there were quite a few comments about Sophia shown to be praying with nailpolish on and arms bare and sharing her pre-hijab photos. She is a newbie, its a steep learning curve – no need to shoot the girl down.

The other girl, who’s name escapes me – many apologies- had met her husband when she was a teenager as he used to hang about the school playground. He married her, secretly of course, as his family would never accept a white daughter-in-law. So a few years later, he was the good desi boy and abided by his parents wishes to go abroad to marry again (probably to a cousin or other family member). She wasn’t entirely happy with this, but had come around to it as she had made him promise not to have sex with his other wife. Her sister however resented the arrangement as she felt her sister was practically living the live of a single parent. This whole story had too many cultural hang ups that in order to address them would be a whole blog post on its own.

Inayah had trouble finding a partner as most of the boys family wouldnt accept her unless she was Pakistani. Some men she came across wanted a girlfriend not a wife. She’s better off without such people – lucky escape.

Alana converted after being introduced to Islam via her fiance. Shanna asked Alana for her opinion on her clothing – to which she replied it wasn’t halal. Including the boots (which personally I loved!). This didnt go down to well with Shanna who then piped that her lifestyle and career in modelling was a result of being a modern British Muslim and nothing would change that. I would say all of the girls in the documentary were modern if modern means to be able to drive a car, own a mobile phone, travel, have a job, own a house etc.

Is a career in modelling, where clothing to be displayed and paraded such as short skirts, tube tops, cannot be modest according to Islamic principles, really be compatible with being a Muslim? Seemed like she knew what the answer was to that but didnt want to give it too much thought. And of course once you justify something to yourself its easy to carry on doing it, the very advice given to her by model/fashion designer Ayesha who was also a convert. However the irony of it all seemed to hit her when she attended a fashion party of Ayesha’s. She decided to reconnect with Islam and contacted Alana. The line of “want to hook up and go pray sometime?” made me cringe!

Overall the programme missed the opportunity of really exploring the reasons and effect conversion had on the lives of these 5 girls, it focused too much on on what they were (or weren’t) wearing.

Mona’s recent article “Why Do They Hate Us” in Foreign Policy (complete with a picture of a nude woman painted in black paint representing niqab. Nice way of tackling already over riped stereotypes of Muslim women) has caused much furore and debate.

One of the major issues I have with the article is the often used argument of the Muslim women needing to be rescued by Western powers because they are just, upholders of law and virtue and generally more concerned with human welfare. Campaigns which encouraged and eventually led to to the Arab spring were effective because they were internally driven, not brought in guns blazing by the US or UK (who provided reluctant cheering as they most probably have their own agenda’s to toppling the despots – they remain silent where they have no vested interests e.g. Bahrain) and the same principles can apply to changing discriminatory laws. It’s this which should be emphasised, not pandering to the Western sentiments, already exhausted Orientalist notions and stereotypes of Arab women. Lauding a them vs us dichotomy can never be any good, regardless of the reasons behind it.

Much of the misogyny in the Arab world is also seen across other nations, such as South Asia – women from Muslim, Sikh, Hindu and other faith groups experience much of the same in terms of treatment and attitudes. This points to a patriarchial stronghold which prevent progressive laws – and its these patriarchial hierarchies within the various fields of law, health, social welfare and others which need to be eradicated. If the Arab people came together to topple their despot leaders, they can also work together to change the lives of their people for the better.

The BBC have began a series following young people from different religious backgrounds in the search for a marriage partner. Last nights “Strictly Soulmates” episode followed 3 young Muslim guys and girls. My favourite were Dimpy, a 31 year old doctor by profession and Zubair a 23-odd year old who wanted to migrate back to Lahore, Pakistan and live life there doing charity work.

Zubair was a likeable chap – a bit goofy, but in an endearing way, confident and had some definite plans he wanted to follow through on. One was to migrate back to Pakistan where he spent his teenage years to start up a charity and he wanted his wife to aid him in this charity work. It was his desire to move away which detracted from his appeal, because other than that he seemed like a decent guy.

Dimpy seemed to be unsure of what she wanted – he must be a doctor was her only criteria. But in her search, rather than appeasing her preferences she was at cross-roads with the thoughts of what her father (who had passed away) would have wanted her to do. And she held onto that so strongly that when the realisation of its futility hit her, it hit her hard.

The programme provided insight into how Pakistani arranged marriages take place. Anyone from Pakistani or Indian backgrounds will know even in these marriage processes there are many steps involved, all of which have their own politics and unwritten but understood rules to comply with. It touched briefly upon the options Muslims have when it comes to finding a suitable partner for marriage within the rules and norms of their cultural and religious expectations and norms.

One could argue the programme was more about how Pakistani’s do the marriage game – from the “auntie” matchmaker, to samosa parties at home with the prospective grooms mother rather than how Muslims in general do it (I wont go into Islamically how people argue it is “meant” to be done, as thats a whole other blog post in itself) having a variety of Muslim backgrounds would have made it much more interesting although the manner in which spouses are found in most Muslim cultures wouldn’t differ much.

It seemed like all 3 of them ha a long way to go before finding their Mr/Mrs Right. Wish them all the best in their search.

I applaud this woman for taking the initiative in securing not only a job for herself, but also doing so successfully in the face of all of the obstacles she may have faced (as a Pashtun widow in Pakistan).

Zahida Kazmi has been hailed as Pakistan’s first female taxi driver. She has driven from the crowded markets of Islamabad to the remote tribal country in the north. Here she tells Nosheen Abbas about her two decades in a male-dominated world.

In 1992 at the age of 33, newly widowed Zahida Kazmi decided to take her fate in her own hands and become a taxi driver.

Born into a conservative and patriarchal Pakistani family, she flew in the face of her family’s wishes but with six children to support, she felt she had no choice.

She took advantage of a government scheme in which anybody could buy a brand new taxi in affordable instalments. She bought herself a yellow cab and drove to Islamabad airport every morning to pick up passengers.

In a perilous and unpredictable world, Zahida at first kept a gun in the car for her own protection and she even started off by driving her passengers around wearing a burqa, a garment that covers the entire body.

Her initial fears soon dissipated.

“I realised that I would scare passengers away,” she said. “So then I only wore a hijab [head covering]. Eventually I stopped covering my head because I got older and was well-established by then.”

Exposing herself to the hot, bustling city streets of Islamabad and by driving to the rocky and remote districts adjoining Pakistan’s tribal areas, Zahida says she learned a lot about the country she lived in and its people.